'Turkish' UKIP MEP slams Tories 'cheap tactics'

Conservatives smear UKIP MEPs Turkish roots, publishing his Turkish name with photo next to radical figures

Europe

02 Aralık 2014 Salı 15:02

World Bulletin/News Desk

British MEP Tim Aker slammed the Tories for smearing him with a brochure that placed his photo next to those of radical preachers.

Tim Aker's first name was originally Timur, as he is of Turkish origin. His parents changed his name to "Tim" early in his childhood. Aker is now an anti-immigration U.K. Independence Party member and an MEP in Thurrock.

Teresa Webster, who is standing against Aker in a byelection in the Aveley ward on Thursday, published his full birth name in a leaflet in which Aker appeared next to pictures of the radical preachers Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza.

"The Tories are getting desperate," Aker said, according to an article published by the British paper, the Guardian.

"They will find anything. It is incredibly cheap of them. But freedom of speech is what it is, and the public will judge them on it. I am not calling on them to stop using the leaflet. They can carry on doing what they do. I am not going to try and stifle their rights to freedom of speech. But they have got to bear the responsibility for it," Aker told the Guardian.

Jackie Doyle-Price, the local Tory MP, defended the leaflet, saying that Aker should be "proud of" his Turkish heritage.

Cameron's Conservative Party has been under pressure from the anti-EU and anti-immigration party over the past year. Public sentiment has hardened towards immigrants in challenging economic conditions.